AT THE South Australian Cricket Association's Test dinner on Tuesday, A.B. de Villiers said something that will be seized upon by those who believe he should give up the gloves to let his batting flourish.

After the MC, Hamish McLachlan, asked for de Villiers' top-five dinner guests (Nelson Mandela and Steffi Graf made the cut), he slipped in a query about the player's dual roles. ''I've got a sore back and my average is falling,'' de Villiers answered in a flippant sort of way.

But it tapped into the Australians' suspicions that taking on the gloves has taken the edge off de Villiers' dangerous batting.